Galen | Medicine's Best
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Transcript of Galen | Medicine's Best
What is the historical significance of Galen in the history of medicine?
Ryan Gold
Areas of significance
Treatment
Causes of disease
Knowledge of anatomy
Treatment 1
• Developed Hippocrates’ theory of the 4 humours to the ‘theory of opposites’ – an example of developing previous medical ideas.
• First to relate diagnosis to periodicity.
WROTE 16 BOOKS
ON TREATMENTS
Treatment 2• Travelled around the
province of Asia, investigating and collecting plants for use as medicine.
• Passionate about treatments – travelled long distances to collect trusted ingredients for his herbal medicines.
• The first to measure precise amounts of everything used in a remedy.
WROTE 30 BOOKSON PHARMACY
Treatment 3• Set an example by putting the
Hippocratic Oath into practice. Galen never charged a fee for treating a patient!
• Revolutionised treatment of gladiators when working with them from 157-161.
Insignificance - Treatment
• Sometimes vague with diagnosis, e.g. described recurrent paroxysms of shivering, rigor, sweating, burning heat, and unusual pulse rhythm as “fever”.
• Galen’s own words say the care of the sick took second place to his love of knowledge.
• Supernatural beliefs – formed the basis of his treatments
“We never find any country, or any city, without places where recovery is sought through divine medicine”- Galen
Causes of disease 1 BEDSIDE MANNER• Scrutinised patients
for diagnostic clues - sensitive to small changes in temperature & pulse.
• He interrogated patients to elicit symptoms not obvious to his senses, e.g. pain.
GALEN TEACHES OTHERS HOW TO DIAGNOSE A DISEASE PROPERLY
Causes of disease 2• Also wrote 6 books on
pathology, educating others.
• Ammianus Marcellinus gave credence both to Galen’s chronology of the Antonine Plague (165–180) and to its effect.
Causes of disease 3
• Performed many successful diagnoses, e.g. a patient reported drinking unclean water & Galen accurately said that he had swallowed a leech.
• Said illnesses could be located in specific organs, so doctors could make accurate diagnoses and prescribe remedies to restore the body’s balance.
Insignificance – Causes of disease• Galen consulted
astrologers who drew up charts that supposedly showed which heavenly bodies were causing disease.
• Also believed dreams were important in illness – wrote ‘On Diagnosis from Dreams’
Anatomical Knowledge 1• Made numerous progressions
in knowledge of anatomy: Advocated spinal cord
importance Proved brain controls speech Noted how veins and arteries
are structurally different Proved urine is formed in
kidney, not the bladder Said blood nourished heart,
lungs, brain & other organs Distinguished 7 pairs of cranial
nerves
+ more!
Anatomical Knowledge 2• Passed on much
knowledge - published over 300 articles and 9 books on anatomy – most complete encyclopaedia of medicine in the ancient world.
“His ideas were a base for the medical theories of later physicians…important steps along the way to new understandings of science and medicine.”- Jeanne Bendick
• John Scarborough: “[Galen was a] pioneer in his continual dissection and vivisection of animals”.
Insignificance – Anatomical Knowledge• Wrong about ‘ebb and flow’ theory.• Didn’t discover circulation. • Made up the idea that there ‘openings’
in the heart to fit his theoretical system of ebbing and flowing.
• Only dissected animals!• Believed the spleen stored black bile,
which was waste left over from the liver when it made blood.
• Wrongly believed that the spleen helped get rid of black bile.
“Theories behind the Galenic school of medicine were so erroneous that it is an understatement to call them merely wrong.” - James Hannam
BLACK BILE WAS
COMPLETELY
MADE UP SOLELY
TO FIT THE GREEK
THEORY THAT
EVERYTHING
CAME IN FOURS!
Conclusion
What is the historical significance of Galen in the history of medicine?